Messenger of Calamity

Chapter 8: "Lord of Lecheng County · Ying Ru Shi"

Did they know 'Yan San' had changed class?

Yan Qing was slightly stunned, but quickly came to his senses.

Even without mentioning how 'Yan San' had instantly recovered to full health and healed all his wounds, just the "Vitality +4" was eye-catching enough — a level 1 ordinary person only had 1 vitality, and most people had around 7 vitality even at level 10.

Even for a monster like 'Yan San' who started with 13 vitality, "Vitality +4" was equivalent to one-third increase in physical strength, so it would be strange if no one noticed the difference.

It might not have been clear on the screen, but in the real world, 'Yan San' probably had muscles swelling enough to burst through his armor.

"That's right, I changed class to a Messenger."

Yan Qing answered as he picked up Zheng Shan's loot.

The surrounding Hundred-Ward Riders erupted in commotion; it seemed that even among elite soldiers, class-changing to Messenger was a rare occurrence.

Wu Wanliu stared at him, and even with the mask between them, Yan Qing could feel his shock.

Though it felt a bit abrupt, Yan Qing still chose to immediately walk over to Zheng Shan and pick up the drops, to avoid any unforeseen complications.

"You have picked up Spirit Jade ×800"

"You have picked up Healing Pill ×2"

"You have picked up 'Token: White Iron Straight Blade'"

"You have picked up 'Basic Footwork Mastery Manual'"

Yan Qing was stunned when he saw the last item, then widened his eyes and immediately opened his Personal Storage, transferring the "Basic Footwork Mastery Manual" to the Public Storage!

It was only a few quick operations, but Yan Qing's hands were sweating, as if he had just pressed a bomb switch.

He was this nervous because this item might completely change his current predicament!

"Basic Footwork Mastery Manual"

"Source: Any elite humanoid enemy proficient in Basic Footwork"

"Usage Condition: None"

"Effect: Instantly grants you max-level Basic Footwork"

"Note: This manual contains extremely detailed techniques for dodging and retreating, whether you're committing murder or acting heroically, it provides great assistance."

Clicking on the "Basic Footwork Mastery Manual" in Public Storage brought up three options:

"Use"

"Transfer to another character's Personal Storage"

"Discard"

Yan Qing swallowed hard and chose "Use" → "Used by Yan Qing".

Thump, thump!

His heart pounded powerfully, and his vitality surged through his limbs like a storm, his legs burning as if on fire!

But the phenomenon faded as quickly as it came.

After Yan Qing slowly took a deep breath, his body returned to normal.

He put down the game console and walked to an open area, looking at the distance between the walls and ceiling.

Without any thought, purely following instinct, he leapt up, first stepping on a wall to jump to the ceiling, then kicked off the ceiling to land on the opposite wall.

He repeated the maneuver, and in just three seconds, he moved around the room without touching the floor, heart calm and breath steady, as if hopping through chalk squares on flat ground.

His knees felt like they were spring-loaded, light enough to fly with a simple jump.

It really worked!

Although there was no in-game system notification, Yan Qing knew his Basic Footwork had reached level 10 max, and his character level had probably risen by five or six levels.

Vitality and skill had increased by two or three points.

Otherwise, his physical condition couldn't be this good — based on his estimation, his old body worn out from cheap meals and corporate grind likely had just "1" vitality.

The boost from five or six level-ups had multiplied his physical attributes several times.

Yan Qing let out a long breath.

The inexplicable transmigration, the looming theft mission, the unfamiliar world, and his own weakness — all the unease brought by these had vanished in this moment.

He had finally found a way to grow stronger!

《The Messenger》 encouraged veteran players to start alternate characters.

And veterans certainly didn’t want to grind levels.

"Mastery Manuals" were created to solve that pain point: not only could they quickly level up alternate characters, but if veterans wanted to customize a character's class, they could collect the corresponding skill manuals to skip the tedious leveling process.

Take the "Sword Dance Messenger" that Yan Qing knew of — it was an extremely popular first-tier class, and usually only veteran players with alts could change to it.

Because the Sword Dance Messenger required Basic Swordsmanship and Basic Dance, and swordsmanship initially had small range and low damage, while dance had slow progress.

Trying to train the skills alone was pure torture.

Veterans only needed to choose a popular weapon and grind to level 10 or 20, and they could obtain all kinds of skill manuals.

Then, going back to create a new character and change to Sword Dance Messenger would be far more enjoyable.

Yan Qing could completely replicate the operation of "main account carrying a new account"; the only difference was that he himself was the new account, while characters like 'Yan San' were the main accounts.

The main account would go out to adventure and gather resources, while Yan Qing would coordinate everything from the Thieves' House, and once the main account grew stronger, it would carry him along to strength!

When Yan Qing picked up the game console again, he found that the other Hundred-Ward Riders were gradually leaving, and only Wu Wanliu and 'Yan San' remained in the underground hall.

Wu Wanliu saw 'Yan San' moving and suddenly said, "You can take some treasure before you leave; it's an unspoken rule, no one will pursue it."

After saying that, he turned and left.

To prove his point, he casually grabbed a few strings of pearl necklaces from the pile of gold and silver treasures as he walked away.

Treasure?

Yan Qing looked at the treasures all over the ground and tried to click on them, but 'Yan San' didn’t move at all — in the game system, these treasures were just part of the background, completely untouchable, and gold and silver had no meaning in the game.

The only base currency in 《The Messenger》 was Spirit Jade.

Just as he was about to leave, Yan Qing suddenly spotted a large treasure chest placed in front of Zheng Shan’s large bed.

He glanced around — Wu Wanliu and the other Hundred-Ward Riders had already left — so he went over and opened the chest.

A pickup list popped up on the right side of the treasure chest:

"Spirit Jade ×1500"

"Healing Pill ×10"

"Steel Ingot ×10"

"Leather ×10"

"Intro Manual: Thunderclap Blade Technique ×1"

Hm!?

Yan Qing’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the last drop.

"Intro Manual: Thunderclap Blade Technique"

"Source: Any Swift Blade Messenger might drop this"

"Usage Requirement: Basic Blade Technique level 5"

"Effect: Immediately grants level 1 Thunderclap Blade Technique. Once learned, it will change your blade attack mode."

"Thunderclap Blade Technique: Each level increases casting speed of blade-type tokens by 5%, max level 10."

"Note: Eight out of ten Swift Blade Messengers will name their crude skills 'Thunderclap Blade Technique', and in fact, the majority of these manuals can be summed up with one word: fast."

Naturally, Yan Qing couldn’t learn it himself, as he didn’t even have level 1 Basic Blade Technique.

But 'Yan San' could learn it!

Upon seeing this blade technique manual, Yan Qing remembered that 'Yan San' had also picked up the straight blade token dropped by Zheng Shan earlier.

It was just that all his attention had been taken by the Mastery Manual, and he had completely forgotten this.

In the Personal Storage, a sharp straight blade exuded a chilling aura.

Its highlighted white name indicated that it wasn’t an ordinary item, but a powerful token.

"White Iron Straight Blade"

"Grade: First-tier Ordinary"

"Durability: 50/50"

"Equip Requirements: 5 Vitality, 5 Soul"

"Base Attack Power: 3~15 points"

"Effect · Moonring Slash: After a short charge, instantly unleashes a circular slash centered on the user, dealing 40 points of area damage. Costs 5 Spirit Power to activate. Initial attack radius is 2 meters, with each additional 3 Spirit Power extending the blade arc by 1 meter, up to a max of 10 meters."

"Effect · Armor Break: After using Moonring Slash, the blade arc remains on the blade, increasing the next Moonring Slash’s damage by 40 points. The blade arc dissipates after 3 seconds, but its effect can stack, and each stack refreshes the duration."

"Evaluation: ‘Think you can dodge my blade by staying far away? A blade is not such an inconvenient thing.’"

No doubt, the Thunderclap Blade Technique and the White Iron Straight Blade were fixed drops in this dungeon.

The two complemented each other and could allow a newly changed class player to immediately become a professional blade wielder.

If the player liked this playstyle, they would stick with it all the way to level 20 for the second-tier class.

So, should he take it?

Wu Wanliu had said that they were fully aware of all the chest drops in this dungeon.

Taking this manual would definitely be noticed.

This wasn’t the game world — where you could just log off after taking loot — if they found out he had stolen something...

After some thought, Yan Qing felt that taking a Thunderclap Blade Technique manual wasn’t worth it.

Just in this dungeon alone, he had picked up nearly 2000 Spirit Jade, not to mention the token White Iron Straight Blade.

And seeing how skilled Wu Wanliu and the others were at running the dungeon, it was obvious they farmed it regularly.

Which meant that as long as 'Yan San' stayed, he could steadily level up and pick up drops here.

A single feast versus feasts every day — he knew the difference.

On the way out of the dungeon, Yan Qing discovered they were dismantling the house outside.

The support soldiers who had waited at the dungeon entrance earlier were now efficiently tearing down the Zheng residence, turning it into bricks, tiles, and timber to be carted away batch by batch.

The food and treasures in the mansion were, of course, not spared.

There were even people counting and recording at the dungeon gate — how many pigs the Zheng family had, how many quilts, how many chairs — the Hundred-Ward Camp knew everything, missing nothing.

No wonder they came to strike so early in the morning.

Dismantling this thoroughly really would take a full day.

Yan Qing suddenly thought of the Hundred-Ward Camp’s rich meals, complete infrastructure, and luxurious individual rooms.

He immediately understood — no wonder the Hundred-Ward Camp was so well-off.

Turns out, every time they ran a dungeon, it was like raiding another Zheng family!

Although they couldn’t pick up drops like players could, it was precisely because they weren’t players that they could so thoroughly squeeze the dungeon dry.

Yan Qing clicked his tongue in amazement, feeling that the people of this world had formed a unique ecological chain with the dungeons.

When he stepped out of the dungeon, the sky outside was already bright.

The Hundred-Ward Camp members were waiting outside.

They looked at 'Yan San', their expressions rather complex.

"Distribute rewards after tallying the secret realm's wealth," Wu Wanliu said. "Same rules as always, the combat teams rest in the afternoon, return to camp the day after tomorrow. If anyone fails to return on time, don’t blame my whip."

At those words, the exhausted and injured Hundred-Ward Riders instantly cheered.

Yan Qing hadn’t expected a two-day rest.

But then again, to them, running a dungeon was truly a life-and-death battle.

Even the rear-line archers had to shoot nonstop.

Resting two days was only natural.

But Yan Qing wanted to quickly save up the 9000 Spirit Jade needed to pay his fine.

And farming the dungeon more might yield other skill manuals.

He wished he could run dungeons every day, continuously.

As he pondered how to bring up his idea of running dungeons continuously, a quartermaster came out of the dungeon and whispered something to Wu Wanliu.

Wu Wanliu nodded, raised his hand, and made several gestures.

Yan Qing didn’t understand them, but all the waiting Hundred-Ward Riders who saw the gesture changed expression dramatically and immediately dropped their weapons and squatted on the ground.

Thud thud thud!

Dense footsteps echoed atop the fortress.

Dozens of guards turned their powerful crossbows, aiming them at the people at the dungeon gate!

"Tallying reveals that the treasure chest in the Demon King's room is missing one Thunderclap Blade Technique manual," Wu Wanliu said coldly.

"I was the second last to leave earlier. Before I left, no one touched that chest."

"The last one out of the room was you, Yan San!"

"I’ve repeatedly stated, taking loot privately is a capital offense."

"And yet you dared break the law knowing this."

"If you hand over the Thunderclap Blade Technique manual now, you can still avoid death!"

"You changed class to Messenger at such a young age."

"I had planned to recommend you for the Hundred-Ward Riders."

"Don’t destroy your future over a moment of greed."

Looking at the dozens of crossbows aimed at him from atop the fortress, Yan Qing fully understood.

Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to say something like "I didn’t take the Thunderclap Blade Technique" to prove his innocence — Wu Wanliu also knew he didn’t take it, which was exactly why he framed him this way.

If Wu Wanliu truly wanted to give Yan Qing a chance to return the manual, he would have asked privately, not set up this execution ground waiting for Yan Qing to fail to hand over the item so they could shoot him on the spot.

The one who wrongs you always knows better than anyone that you're innocent.

Wu Wanliu choosing the Thunderclap Blade Technique manual as the framing tool was also brilliant — if Yan Qing guessed correctly, the manual would disappear after use, just like in the game, leaving no trace.

But things like Spirit Jade and pills, even if used, would leave evidence behind.

So if Yan Qing claimed he hadn’t taken it, Wu Wanliu would say he had already used the manual, and then it would seem justified to kill him even without finding evidence.

If he had framed Yan Qing with other loot instead, then once 'Yan San' was dead and no evidence found on the body, everyone would know Wu Wanliu was lying.

As long as 'Yan San' died, the matter would naturally end there.

And that "stolen" Thunderclap Blade Technique manual would quietly end up in Wu Wanliu’s pocket.

Yan Qing didn’t know why Wu Wanliu had set up this trap.

Maybe he had always planned to steal the Thunderclap Blade Technique and ‘Yan San’ was just the scapegoat who happened to be there.

Or maybe he had never gotten along with ‘Yan San’ and couldn’t stand the fact that he’d now changed class to Messenger, so he decided to nip him in the bud.

Or maybe he was simply jealous of ‘Yan San’s potential…

Any of those reasons were possible — but none of them mattered.

What mattered was, while Wu Wanliu could choose to let 'Yan San' die here,

Yan Qing could choose how ‘Yan San’ would face death!

Yan Qing looked toward the item bar at the bottom right — the first item was, sure enough, “Spirit Jade.”

In 《The Messenger》, Spirit Jade was not only currency, but also the power source of all Messengers — the main way Messengers replenished their spirit energy was by using Spirit Jade to recharge.

In fact, if a Messenger hadn’t learned special skills, their spirit energy wouldn’t even replenish automatically.

At first glance this seemed odd — why give Messengers a spirit meter that didn’t auto-recover?

But once you imagined the Messenger as a car, Spirit Jade as gasoline, and tokens as the engine, it all made sense.

Turning an ordinary person into a Messenger was like turning a pile of steel into a car.

A Messenger being able to hold spirit energy was like a car being able to hold gas.

Just like a car, the Messenger was merely a medium for the reaction between spirit energy (gasoline) and tokens (engine).

But in the end, a car was still just a pile of metal — and a Messenger, at their core, was still just a person.

So don’t be fooled by how a single drop gave you hundreds or thousands of Spirit Jade — when it came time to spend it, it poured out like a waterfall.

With a press from Yan Qing, twenty Spirit Jade were consumed in an instant, and ‘Yan San’s spirit energy hit the max value of 20.

Then he equipped the token "White Iron Straight Blade."

In the first skill slot, the usable skill "Moonring Slash" appeared!

‘Yan San’s right hand brushed across his belt, and a plain-looking blade appeared at his waist.

Some people might have noticed this scene, but would likely think ‘Yan San’ had just hidden the blade earlier — minor looting among Hundred-Ward Riders in the secret realm was normal.

As long as you didn’t touch the treasure chest, most turned a blind eye.

"Yan San! Still not handing it over?!" Wu Wanliu bellowed, the markings on his Ghostly Mask seeming to ignite as he glared death at ‘Yan San’s every move.

"Alright."

Yan Qing stepped forward on his own, closing the distance to Wu Wanliu.

Moonring Slash had an initial attack range of two meters and required 5 spirit energy to use.

Each additional 3 spirit energy extended the arc by one meter, meaning that with 20 spirit energy, he could slash four times within two meters, or twice within three meters.

Six meters, five meters, four meters…

"What are you all doing?!"

At the fortress gate, a black-haired girl wrapped in a fox-fur cloak approached Yan Qing and the others, flanked by Ghostly Guards.

She raised her hand and shouted to the crossbowmen atop the fortress: "The Great Qi’s powerful crossbows are not meant to aim at our own! Stand down!"

Everyone on and below the fortress knelt in unison, Wu Wanliu included: "Greetings, Lord of Lecheng County!"

‘Yan San’ naturally did not kneel, and took the chance to step two more paces closer — now less than three meters from Wu Wanliu.

"What’s all this commotion?"

"Reporting to the County Lord — this ruffian entered the secret realm with us for the first time and stole a skill manual from the treasure chest," Wu Wanliu immediately said.

"I advised him to surrender it to avoid punishment, but he has refused — I fear he has already used it."

"Please rule on this, County Lord!"

The black-haired girl did not respond immediately.

She turned to ‘Yan San’, who had been silently standing to the side, and said:

"I am Ying Ru Shi, County Lord of Lecheng under Banner Leader Wu Wanliu."

"Do you acknowledge his accusation?"

"If there is injustice, I can uphold fairness."

At the same time, a name appeared above the black-haired girl’s head:

"Lord of Lecheng County · Ying Ru Shi."